4Ways to Cultivate a Healthy Spiritual Life

Michelle S. Lazurek

1. Schedule It

I’m a routine person. I thrive on knowing what’s coming throughout my day. If I don’t have a plan for what’s going on in my day, it’s easy for me to get off track and get distracted with many non-essential items in my checking list. I get things off my to-do list rather than spending time with God. Schedule it in small chunks if you feel overwhelmed by having a spiritual life. You do not have to dedicate large parts of your morning or evening to devotional time if it doesn’t fit your schedule. You can easily get up twenty minutes earlier in the morning to read the Word and pray for ten minutes before going to bed. Dividing your spiritual time up into small chunks might help you feel as though it is more attainable.

2. Vary It

Reading the Word and prayer are two essential elements of any person’s spiritual life. But are there other disciplines you could be engaging in that you haven’t done in a while or even tried? Have you ever tried fasting? Dedicate one day a week to giving up one or even two meals. Substitute these meals with water or juice to keep your sugar up. Every time you feel a hunger pang, take a sip of water and pray that God will get you through it. Jesus practiced fasting during his time on earth, and it gave him more intimacy with the father. Jesus also practiced silence and solitude, making this a morning habit. These disciplines are also essential to develop the gift of discernment and wisdom in your life. To develop other spiritual gifts, you must practice spiritual disciplines.

3. Get Accountable

If you have difficulty cultivating a spiritual life on your own, find a trusted friend or spiritual leader who will help you with this task. Set some goals together and commit to keeping each other accountable for completing them. We are more likely to achieve goals when someone else knows about them and is committed to helping us see them through, rather than simply making goals for ourselves, not doing them, and then failing to complete them. You will develop a friendship, and an intimate bond will be shared because of your accountability relationship.

4. Pray Without Ceasing

Scripture says to “pray without ceasing.” Although most of us will stop praying due to work commitments or other family obligations, we can develop a habit of praying throughout the day. In addition to grace during meals or corporate prayer time at your church, you can pray before every business meeting or project you must tackle. Ask God to give you the strength to complete the task to the best of your ability. Work was created in the garden to give our lives purpose and meaning. God wants us to do the work he has given us to do as completely as possible. Ask him for his help even if you are doing a job that you hate.

Not every task that Jesus completed on earth was his favorite. However, he set out to do only what he saw his father doing, and his main objective was to give his father glory. In the same way, we are to give God glory even in our work.

Any spiritual life will have its share of ebbs and flows. There will be times when you feel very close to God and other times when you feel spiritually dry. It is especially when you feel spiritually dry that you must press on and strive to have the best, most vibrant spiritual life you can. When God chooses to break his silence, he may speak to you in many ways, and you must be disciplined to recognize his voice. God honors obedience. He knows you are striving to get to know him more. Through your obedience, he will speak to you in ways you never expected, and you will know God more intimately than ever before.